Blogs from Bordeaux, Aquitaine, France, Europe - page 13

Bonjour alors voila nous avons enfin terminé les vendanges. L'expérience fut fort enrichissante, quelque fois très chiante mais tout aussi fantastique. Alors oui on a sué du jus de raisin et j ai encore les doigts tachés, mais sa valait le coup. On a rencontré tout plein de québecois extra!!! et aussi des francais, marocains et autre avec un cœur d'or. On aussi été très proche des gitans qui sont loin d etre des gens aussi sympa que je croyais. Bon alors a vous les photos mais on en a pas autant qu on le voudrait. Mymixxxxxxxx Je sais pas si vous avez appercu José Litho mais il a vraiment la meme voix. alors je resume ce quest les vendanges; on se leve le matin (cest tres dur) et on dejeune du pain et des cereale ... read more

I'm FINALLY going to write about the harvest! Yay! Aren't you excited?? I know I am. So, over a week ago now, three of my suitemates and I went to Chateau La Gatte, a small Winery just outside Bordeaux. We woke up before the sun rose on a chilly Saturday morning (you know how much effort that takes from me) and hopped onto the bus. Then the tram. Then another tram. Then another bus, Greyhound-like in appearance but less sketchy, and the trip only took 40 minutes. After dozing on the bus in a very Lisa-like fashion (head back, mouth agape) I disembarked with the girls into what appeared to be the middle of beautiful yet rather deserted French countryside. And it was COLD. We power-walked in the general direction of what we hoped was the ... read more

Ok, so I STILL haven't really taken any pictures (I want the people here to think I'm cool, not some bewildered American tourist), so I'm including, for your enjoyment, google images of things I've been eating here. Although these are not the actual items I consumed, they look pretty much exactly like them. MMMmmmm... aren't you jealous? The first and most important item is this caramel-y, vanilla-y, slightly crunchy on the outside, soft and gooey on the inside confection of perfection, the canelé. Canelés are Bordeaux's signature pastry. I had my first one today, and so now I feel like an official resident of Bordeaux (even though that paperwork won't officially go through for months). I'll let the captions describe the rest. Today I met the middle school kids at St. André. They were hilarious. The ... read more

I ate a third of a wheel of camembert today. The other day I ate TV-dinner-style microwavable confit de canard (it was pretty good), and noticed the box had wine pairing instructions. I'm getting used to the smell of cigarette smoke. I bought full-fat butter. I see several people daily carrying around baguettes. My (economy) hotel room came with a wine opener. Every 13 year-old girl I've seen so far dresses better than I do. Yes, it would appear that I am in France. The biggest news is that I have a roof over my head, finally. A girl I met through facebook found out about a deal where we can live for free at a Jesuit boarding school as long as we agree to teach there for free once a week. How could I say ... read more

So! I am finally here in Bordeaux. I got in at around midnight Wednesday night. Where shall I begin? Perhaps with my flight. I am happy to report it was uneventful. KLM is far, far superior to American Airlines. Here's a brief list of notable facts about my flight: 1. I got an aisle seat. hallelujah. 2. They served almonds instead of peanuts. Woot. 3. The food was barely edible but it was plentiful and it didn't kill me (it included a warm mashy substance with raisins in it for breakfast that may have been part of the oatmeal family. It was the consistency of really grainy mashed potatoes. Not delicious.) 4. There were two babies in the aisle next to me, but they were reasonably quiet and only mildly stinky. 5. I couldn't figure out ... read more